Of Death, Sunshine and Gelato
by Gimli's Pickaxe
Summary: [AU] In which Will Solace is fascinated by a certain boy... with a passion for sketching graveyards. Will-Nico friendship-ish fic, Oneshot.


To be frank, Will Solace had been noticing that boy right more than he should have. Considering that Will visited the cemetery to pay condolences, not to notice random boys who just happened to be sitting around, it was, well, rather _inappropriate_. (although, to be frank, he didn't feel that sorry that his stepfather had passed away – he had been too much of a bad stepfather to actually miss. Still, family was family, blood or no blood, and you had to be civil. Meaning that you had to show up at the cemetery every other month and make a show of presenting flowers on the grave pretending to be sad.)

The boy wasn't really the noticeable type. But he did have something that drew Will's eye. He was on the short side, almost pitifully thin, like he might just evaporate right into the shadows. His dark brown hair was a little too long and tousled and kept getting into his eyes. The boy had to shake his head like a big puppy every few minutes just to see things straight.

But it was his eyes that really caught Will's attention. Dark, brown, round, and soulful, they looked like they had already seen far too much and didn't want to see much more. From five visits to the cemetery – sprinkled casually over approximately nine months – Will gathered that the boy visited the cemetery quite often, since Will visited erratically at best, and the boy was always there. He'd sketch away furiously at his sketchbook, then lift his head and look at random things for a while. Then go back to sketching. Or sleeping. That was pretty much all the mystery boy, as Will had dubbed him, did.

Yes. To be honest, Will had been watching the boy. For lack of a better word he was. And _gods_ he knew it was pretty creepy and that he probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. The boy's mellow eyes drew him in fast like a fish caught on a bait. They had a weird, somber pull. It wasn't like Will was stalking him or anything. He guessed it should be okay.

After nearly a year of staring out of the corner of the eye, contemplating, and awkwardly scratched necks (as well as a whole load of forgotten condolence-flowers originally meant for his deceased stepfather), finally Will worked up the nerve to approach the boy.

Again, it was creepy and he knew it, but he was curious. So he just strolled over, with a nice, measured stride, and plopped down on the grass right next to the boy.

"Hey," he said, softly, and the boy looked up. Will now noticed that his complexion had hues of olive in it, although still as deathly pale as ever. The boy blinked, long eyelashes sweeping across those dark eyes, before replying.

"It's Nico. Call me Nico."

"I'm Will. Um, yeah. Will. Call me Will."

Will managed to stammer out an introduction. Gods, was this awkward. But he had been so curious about that boy, that boy with the dark gaze and his sketchbook, that he managed to plough on.

"I've, uh, seen you quite a few times here. So I thought I might as well, yeah…. Say hi."

"I've noticed."

Nico looked up, amusement dancing in his eyes. He gave a small smile, his high cheekbones lighting up.

"I've kinda been watching you too. You are quite noticeable. Especially when you keep trying to steal glances at my sketchbook."

Will feels like a burning tomato and probably looks like one too. Everyone would know, but being caught out staring was just plain embarrassing. But Will has never been one for secrecy. He decides to be honest about the whole matter.

"I was curious." He admitted.

"You always seemed to be so busy drawing something. Um, someone important here?"

Will gestured around to the general vicinity of the cemetery. Nico shook his head, half surprising Will.

"I just like the scenery here. I sketch it. The stones. Those trees. The way grass just grows over everything like some kind of blanket. I've always had a thing for death."

Nico hands Will his sketchbook, gesturing him to go ahead. Nico's fingers are long and white against the greyish backdrop of the cemetery, and they clash sharply with the worn black sweatshirt Nico is wearing. They're an artist's hands, Will notices. They would probably look just as good playing a piano as they would gripping a 4B art pencil.

The sketchbook is filled with sketches of the cemetery. Old tombstones crumbling into earth. Wildflowers grown thick on a neglected grave. The way dusk highlighted and brought out the shadows, making the whole place seem just one step closer to hell.

The boy has real talent. And talent, Will thinks sadly, that doesn't belong to a boy this young. Nico held the melancholy of a ninety-year old man. As if life has already bruised and scarred him so much that he didn't rightly care. And as darkly beautiful as it was, Will wasn't really sure he liked it.

"All I've seen until now was just deaths and more deaths. My mother, a little after I was born. My father, when he tried to take me and Bianca in. Bianca, when she tried to save me from a car crash. And a whole bunch of other people after that."

Nico's tone was light, conversational, but Will felt something heavier underneath it. He nodded, Nico's sketchbook on his lap. Bianca – family, he supposed. Maybe a sister.

"That's why I sketch graveyards. It seems a lot more like, well, life. It feels real. Like I could actually grasp it with my hands."

What Nico was saying did have some truth in it. After all, we all live just to die. Every breath that we inhale, exhale, is just us getting closer and closer to that inevitable little cliff called death. Some reach it a lot faster than others. Nico had seen his fair share of falls.

_Hell_ that kid had, from the looks of it. Will breathed in, breathed out, and scratched the back of his neck.

"You have some truth there."

But Will didn't want to leave Nico here. Like, here, forever. Because he was kind of scared that Nico would. Nico could well stay here for the rest of his life, sketching tombstones and being an amazing artist (not that anyone would know; Nico didn't really seem to be the type to upload his works to an internet community. And you do need to showcase your work if you want it to get noticed.) and never manage to just _leave_.

Will probably had no right whatsoever, but he wanted to show Nico that there was more. More to life than just progressing along the dreary inevitable road leading to Death. However beautiful the Nico of now was, with his weird dark quiet beauty (and Will did not use the word beauty lightly. Especially to men.) – Will wanted to see a _new_ Nico. A different, somewhat happy, un-dark one. From what he had gathered over the past few months, he liked this Nico fine, but this Nico was not really a very happy Nico.

Will had always been a sunny person. With his tan skin, bright blond curls, and eyes the exact colour of the summer sky, he at least looked the part. And he had been told on several occasions that he had quite the pleasant personality, as long as he wasn't being stubborn. (Which he often was. But he supposed nobody could be perfect, really.)

Nico could definitely use a good friend. A good go-to person. Or whatever else you might call it.

The conversation between Will and Nico had died down a little, and a light breeze was ruffling the grass. On impulse, Will leaned over to Nico, taking his pencil and flipping the sketchbook's pages until he found a blank one. Quickly, he scribbled his name, Will Solace, adding his cell phone number.

Nico looked up, surprised, and Will gave a sheepish grin.

"I guess you could use someone to talk to. So here I am. I've been told I'm quite the sunshine-and-rainbows type of person, and, well, I guessed you might be able to use some."

Nico blinked.

"Kiddo, life isn't all about grey. You gotta see the sunshine sometimes. It's actually quite great."

Nico had been staring at will for a while now, his teeth teasing his lips, and Will started to get nervous. Was that boy mad at him? And then Nico cracked a grin, a _real_ grin, that actually made him look his age, and Will couldn't help but grin back.

"I suppose so," Nico said, ripping Will's number out and pocketing it, carefully. "So, Mr. Sunshine, how about meeting here tomorrow? I actually quite like gelato."

"You're very high end," Will replied playfully. "I usually make do with ice cream."

"I am Italian after all. Get used to it."

With that, Nico was gone. Will reached up, ruffling his hair, lips half raised in anticipation. Tomorrow he was going to try this whole gelato thing. Or ice cream, whatever. (If there was no gelato Nico would just have to cope with it.)

Whichever way, he supposed it wouldn't be half bad.

**A/N : My first fanfiction. Reviews will be greatly appreciated:D**


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